Terms of Reference - National Volunteer Service
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Terms of Reference
Soft Skills Training to Increase Youth Employability
LEBANON
NATIONAL VOLUNTEER SERVICE PROGRAM (NVSP)
A. BACKGROUND
1. Young people in Lebanon are currently facing significant labor market challenges. Joblessness, defined as
the share of the working-age population in either unemployment or economic inactivity, is high amongst
youth, especially females. Around 29 percent of female and 20 percent of male youth are unemployed or
inactive1. The unemployment rate among 15-24 years old is particularly high, at 34 percent (compared to
11 percent of the labor force overall). These poor labor market outcomes could be explained by skill
mismatches, as employers struggle to fill vacancies due to a shortage of job seekers with relevant
qualifications and skills.2 Indeed, the 2010 Investment Climate Assessment (ICA) identified skills as one of
the main constraints to doing businesses for enterprises in Lebanon. In particular, many enterprises claim
that Lebanese youth lack “soft skills”, or non-cognitive skills that range from leadership and team work to
conflict resolution. Soft skills are believed to enable youth to work more efficiently and effectively at the
workplace, potentially improving employers’ overall performance and productivity.
2. Soft skills are often developed through hands-on experience, including internships or volunteering work.
Unfortunately, volunteerism amongst youth is not very common in the Middle East and North Africa
(MENA), as schools, universities and/or employers in the region do not see volunteerism as a priority. In
recent years, however, the Lebanese Government (GoL) has shown commitment to promote volunteerism
as a way to improve youth employability and enhance social cohesion, one of the end goals of job creation. 3
For example, GoL issued a Decree (Number 8924/2012) in September 2012 and created a new extra
curriculum program that requires secondary school students to complete 60 hours of civil work. In addition,
the Ministry of Social Affairs (MOSA), through its Volunteering Department, develops every year an annual
action plan for the implementation of youth volunteer summer camps across Lebanon.
3. GoL has included the promotion of volunteerism in Lebanon as an objective in its National Social
Development Strategy. To meet this objective, the World Bank, through funds from the State and Peace-
Building Fund (SPF), supported the MOSA to implement the first phase of the National Volunteer Service
Program (NVSP). The first phase of NVSP, which was implemented between 2013-2016, sought to increase
youth civic engagement and improve social cohesion across communities and regions by: (i) expanding
youth volunteerism among 15-24 year olds, particularly in communities other than their own; and (ii)
improving the employability of youth through enhanced soft skills.
The first phase of NVSP successfully implemented all its activities. To date, around 6,500 Lebanese youth
aged 15-24 and close to 150 NGOs, universities, schools and municipalities have been directly involved in
the project’s activities. This includes more than 3,300 youth who have participated in the implementation
of 51 volunteering projects throughout Lebanon. Of particular importance for this Terms of Reference
(TORs) is the 20-hour soft-skills training curriculum and associated training manuals that were developed
specifically for Lebanon, which benefited staff from those schools and universities that implemented NVSP
1
World Bank (2013) “Jobs for Shared Prosperity: Time for Action in the Middle East and North Africa”. Washington, DC: World Bank.
2
Ibid.
3
World Bank (2013) World Development Report on Jobs. Washington, DC: World Bank.projects in the Summer of 2016 through a Training of Trainers (ToT), as well as 840 participating NVSP youth
who participated in the soft skills training delivered by the trained staff.
4. Thanks to the NVSP success to-date, the SFP provided an additional financing of US$2 million dollars to
scale-up the project in the most vulnerable Lebanese communities hosting Syrian refugees (from now on
“targeted communities”). The project’s second phase, which will be implemented by NGOs in 2017 and
2018, has three main components: (i) Capacity development, communications and outreach, which includes
a capacity building training on project design and management for participating NGOs, as well as a soft skills
training for participating youth volunteers; (ii) Youth volunteering for social stability and service delivery,
including weekend activities and the Small Grants Programs (SGP) for selected NGOs; and (iii) Monitoring
and Evaluation (M&E) and program management.
5. Under Component 2, NVSP successfully implemented 10 projects with NGOs throughout Lebanon including
479 youth volunteers. NVSP envisages the provision of at least 20 hours of soft-skills training to those
youths who participate in projects financed under the SGP, as a way to complement their volunteering
experience and thus further enhance their employability. During the summer of 2017, the training was
directly delivered to 434 volunteers who participated in NGO projects. For the year of 2018, NVSP envisages
the recruitment of a locally hired firm, who would be in charge of providing the soft-skills training directly
to participating youths, leveraging the NVSP soft skills training curriculum as well as training manuals
mentioned above.
B. DESCRIPTION OF THE PROGRAM
The overall objective of the SGP is to provide volunteering opportunities to both Lebanese and Syrian refugee youth
living in the targeted communities through the financing of volunteering projects put forward by eligible NGOs.4
Each proposed project can include a requested budget of up to US$25,000, and should: (i) contribute to social
stability; (ii) improve social service delivery in the targeted communities, and (ii) build employability skills of the
youth through the provision of soft-skills training.
All projects selected for financing under the SGP must: (i) be implemented in 2 months or less, during the summer
of 2017; (ii) reflect the needs of the target community; (iii) recruit a minimum of 40 volunteers from the target
community, and (iv) provide recruited volunteers at least 20 hours of training on soft-skills and 40 hours of
volunteering work.
C. SCOPE OF SERVICES
In partnership with the MOSA and under the guidance of the World Bank, these TORs seek to recruit a local expert
institution (from now on, “the provider”) to implement the NVSP soft-skills component. Specifically, the recruited
firm will be responsible for:
(i) Developing a plan for the delivery of the training sessions, which takes into account the selected
project’s implementation dates, location (both geographic and delivery of actual training), number of
youth, etc.
(ii) Developing any required pedagogical support (i.e.: training manuals, lesson plans, training material,
etc.), using the NVSP soft-skills training curriculum and leveraging/adjusting the training manuals
mentioned above (e.g. constituting four modules, each with 5 one-hour lessons)
4
Eligible youth are Lebanese aged between 15-29 years who are registered in the NVSP online portal, which was created primarily to match
volunteers with selected projects under the SGP. Eligible NGOs must: (i) be registered in the online portal; (ii) be legally registered and licensed
for 2 years or more (at the Ministry of Interior); (ii) have experience in working with volunteers; (iii) have project management experience in
implementing at least one project of similar budget size; (iv) show adequate administrative (availability of a Board of Director elected annually)
and financial structure and procedures (availability of a Finance Management Officer and financial statements); and (v) have an institutional Bank
account and ability to manage grant funds.(iii) Carrying out a series of training sessions targeting at least 1,080 volunteers from the selected 27 NGOs
(from now on, “training beneficiaries”)
(iv) Providing training beneficiaries (including NGOs representatives) ongoing and timely technical support
during the implementation of their projects; and
(v) Conducting a pre- and post- test survey with all training beneficiaries
Specifically, the selected provider must:
a. Carry out a series of training sessions for training beneficiaries. Leveraging its vast experience
designing and implementing soft-skills training, the selected provider must organize and carry out 20
hours of training sessions. The language of instruction must be Arabic. Specifically, the provider will be
responsible for the training:
i. Content and methodology: Beyond covering the content related to the NVSP modules, the
provider must work with the MOSA to include in each training session the following material:
(i) the principles and objectives of volunteering and its benefits for the participating youth and
the target community; (ii) the definition and importance of soft skills for improving youth
employability; and (iii) an introduction to NVSP and in particular the SGP, leveraging its
Operations Manual. The provider must draft and validate the training agenda with MOSA and
the World Bank.
The training sessions must bridge theory with practice and include practical examples on how
soft-skills can be applied to real-case scenarios. To do so, the provider must use interactive
group exercises, participant presentations as well as customized case studies and role plays in
the delivery of the training sessions.
ii. Organization: the selected provider will liaise with the selected NGOs to organize the training
sessions. The NGO will be responsible to provide the physical space of the training. As for the
selected provider, it will secure the needed equipment (i.e. stationeries materials and
preparing and printing all relevant materials, including copies of PowerPoint presentations,
readings and other supporting documents as well as trainers’ manuals).
iii. Delivery, including certification and evaluation: the provider must ensure that the training
sessions cover all material and allow ample room for questions and answers. Training sessions
must be held during daylight hours, and the provider must take daily attendance. Provider
must also issue a certificate to all those participants who successfully completed the training.
The provider must define the minimum attendance requirements for training certification. In
addition, at the beginning (pre-test) and upon completion (post-test) of each set of training
sessions for each IA, the provider must carry out an evaluation of the training and include the
results of the evaluation in its final report (see Section E).
b. Provide training beneficiaries (including NGOs representative) ongoing and timely technical support
during the implementation of their projects. Upon request, the selected provider must provide
training beneficiaries support and guidance on the training content. To this end, the provider must
identify its point person (name, title, location) as well as the means of communication to be used (for
example, emails, skype, social media, help desk), and provide this information to training beneficiaries.
The provider must ensure that all enquiries are answered in a timely manner with clear, detailed
instructions.D. REQUIREMENTS
This assignment requires highly specialized services that must be delivered under an extremely tight deadline.
Therefore, the following are the minimum requirements necessary to successfully carry out the services included in
these TORs:
o A minimum of 5 years of experience in youth development and employability, especially in delivering training
programs.
o Demonstrated capacity and experience organizing and delivering soft skills trainings. This includes having
adequate human resources (See below on trainers’ requirements) as well as all relevant training materials for
participants readily available in both English and Arabic, including trainers’ manuals as well as certification and
monitoring mechanisms.
o Show adequate administrative (availability of a Board of Director selected annually) and financial structure and
procedures (availability of a Financial Officer and ability to prepare periodical financial reports and yearly
financial statements).
o Exposure to volunteering projects and management would be an asset.
o Ability to effectively liaise and establish excellent relationships with government agencies.
o Understanding of the needs of the private sector in Lebanon in terms of knowledge/skills would be a plus.
o Demonstrated capacity to deliver quality products and services under tight deadlines.
o Ability to effectively monitor and document, in Arabic and English, the provision of products and services.
In addition, and given the importance of the trainers’ qualifications and experience on training outcomes, the provider
must show proof that the assigned trainers:
o Have a bachelor’s degree in education, economics, social science or related field. A Master’s degree would be
preferred.
o Have three years of teaching experience and/or experience delivering training for youth.
o Be a certified/accredited trainer, and have ample experience delivering soft skills trainings, would be a plus.
o Have excellent writing and verbal communication skills in Arabic and English.
o Be able to communicate and interact effectively with youth from all ages and backgrounds, including different
confessions.
o Have excellent organizational skills and ability to work under tight deadlines and with a high level of
independence.E. TABLE OF OVERALL DELIVERABLES
The following table identifies the key tasks, deliverables and delivery time per activity to be carried out as part of
these TORS.
Tasks Deliverables Delivery Time
Activity 1: Review the content of the shared modules by NVSP
➢ Review of the shared soft-skills A detailed implementation/work plan, and 1 week
modules. pedagogical support
Activity 2: Organization of training sessions
➢ Identify trainers who will be in charge of A training agenda with detailed logistical 1 week
delivering training sessions information as well as a hard and soft copies of
➢ Prepare and print all training material all supporting documents, including PowerPoint
➢ Design pre-post training assessment, in presentations, reading and other supporting
coordination with NVSP M&E Officer. documents, trainers’ manuals, as well as the pre-
post training assessment.
Activity 3: Delivery of Training sessions for
11 IAs
➢ Conduct training sessions Training sessions on soft skills for each of the 11 2-3 weeks5
IAs. The volunteers of each IA shall receive 20
hours of soft skills training.
The volunteers of each IA will be divided into two
groups, each to be delivered separately.
➢ Carry out training evaluation (pre- and A detailed report with a summary of training 2-3 weeks
post-training), in coordination with objectives, activities, discussions, statistics,
NVSP M&E Officer. evaluation results and other relevant
information. Attachment of copies of attendance
sheets, evaluation forms, and certificates.
➢ Issuance of certificates Contact information for ongoing technical
support
Activity 4: Delivery of Training sessions for
11 IAs
➢ Conduct training sessions Training sessions on soft skills for each of the 11 2-3 weeks6
IAs. The volunteers of each IA shall receive 20
hours of soft skills training.
The volunteers of each IA will be divided into two
groups, each to be delivered separately.
A detailed report with a summary of training 2-3 weeks
objectives, activities, discussions, statistics,
5
The provider is expected to form 6 teams, each constituting of a main trainer and an assistant, able to deliver trainings in
parallel.
6
The provider is expected to form 6 teams, each constituting of a main trainer and an assistant, able to deliver trainings in
parallel.➢ Carry out training evaluation (pre- and evaluation results and other relevant
post-training), in coordination with information. Attachment of copies of attendance
NVSP M&E Officer. sheets, evaluation forms, and certificates.
Contact information for ongoing technical
support
➢ Issuance of certificates
Activity 5: Delivery of Training sessions for
5 IAs
➢ Conduct training sessions Training sessions on soft skills for each of the 5 1-2 weeks
IAs. The volunteers of each IA shall receive 20
hours of soft skills training.
The volunteers of each IA will be divided into two
groups, each to be delivered separately.
➢ Carry out training evaluation (pre- and A detailed report with a summary of training 1-2 weeks
post-training), in coordination with objectives, activities, discussions, statistics,
NVSP M&E Officer. evaluation results and other relevant
information. Attachment of copies of attendance
sheets, evaluation forms, and certificates.
➢ Issuance of certificates Contact information for ongoing technical
support
Activity 6: Provision of technical support
➢ Answer questions related to the Log with all requests/responses Ongoing
trainings.
F. DATA/SERVICES TO BE PROVIDED
The training provider will be provided any project-related background document as needed. The PIU will facilitate the
contacts and meetings with relevant institutions and officials which might be of importance for this assignment.
G. PAYMENT SCHEDULE:
The following table identifies the percentages of the total contract amount to be disbursed to the selected provider
following the achievement/submission of the deliverables per activity identified in section E of these TORs.
Percentage of total contract
Upon
amount
Signing of Contract 20%
Completion of deliverables of Activity 3 25%
Completion of deliverables of Activity 4 25%
Completion of deliverables of Activity 5 10%
Completion of deliverable of Activities 6 20%H. DURATION OF ASSIGNMENT AND REPORTING REQUIREMENTS It is expected that this assignment takes 2 and a half months and run from July 15, 2018 to May 31, 2019. During the contracted period, the selected provider will report to Marwa El Kik (melkik@nvsp-socialaffairs.com), the NVSP Manager. I. APPLICATION DEADLINE The deadline to submit technical and financial proposals for this assignment is June 27, 2018. The technical and financial proposals should be in sealed envelopes and delivered to National Volunteer Service Program (NVSP) offices in Badaro Street, old Ministry of Social Affairs building facing Credit Libanais bank.
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